


coming back to you

by fiddleogold_againstyoursoul



Series: Death Meets Life. It's Not Pretty. [1]
Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Soulmates, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 11:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4623096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fiddleogold_againstyoursoul/pseuds/fiddleogold_againstyoursoul
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Nico's been doing is fighting, struggling, losing and lying.</p><p>Worse than that he's been fading. Memories become more vague with every passing hour. All he remembers clearly now is a pair of gleaming, sky blue eyes and a mop of annoyingly bright blond hair...</p>
            </blockquote>





	coming back to you

**Author's Note:**

> The Solengelo fic no one wanted.

_Keep to yourself,_ the shadows whispered. They told him so, and the shadows were never wrong. At least, not that Nico would know.

His eyes stared off at the dying sun, a husk of its former self, like a once brilliant and flamboyant rose slowly haemorrhaging, wilting like all living things would. Like he would, someday.

Nico's fingers curled around the hilt of his Stygian iron blade. It was cold to touch, but then again, so was he. He barely remembered the last time his skin had passed into contact with someone else's...

A grimace, a trembling, high-energy voice lamenting the difficulties of delivering a satyr-nymph cross baby.

_"Gods of Olympus, my hands are still shaking. See?"_

He felt an odd, unexplainable colour rise to his cheeks, and scowled. There was absolutely nothing for him to blush about.  _Nothing._

 _"Nico,"_  a spirit whispered, and the rest of them rose to the call as well, whispering his name: _"Nico, Nico, Nico..."_

The absurd part was, some of them sounded like...well, _him_.

Not Percy. Nico really had gotten over that little crush there. Percy, though pretty, Nico would give him that, was not the hero he'd swooned for. Percy was annoying, juvenile, and immature. Though the use of the last two words was kind of redundant. Nico didn't care, he wasn't rattling off some speech to anyone. Not to the ghosts whirling around him as they did whenever he got distracted, not to himself. _Especially_ not to himself.

The wraith of some strange passing emotion closed its cold hand around Nico's heart. He felt goosebumps rise to his skin, and the colour return to his normally faint, gaunt cheeks. His hold on his sword tightened, if slightly.

"I am the king of ghosts," he declared, but his voice was shaky. "I will not give in to simple emotions like _fear."_

If that's what it was. It was like if he was trying to convince himself. The spirits dissipated with what might've been a collective laugh, but it was hard to tell. Nico wondered who they had been, alive. If they'd  _ever_ been alive, that was. Roman legionnaires, perhaps, once filled with thirst for glory and the favour of the gods. Regular mortals, more likely. Legionnaires were heroes. Heroes moved on, to Elysium, to Olympus, to their version of paradise. To wherever they deserved, but it didn't matter, did it? When you were dead, you were dead. There was no use asking what you'd been, what were your loyalties. Nico himself would mean nothing to people passing by his grave years later. Not his birth. Not his parentage or his heroic deeds.

 _B,_ he thought. His pocket was heavy with the burden of the item he'd been carrying for too long.

The sun was gone. The world was dark once more.

 

* * *

 

Nico was a child of the Underworld. He didn't belong anywhere, but because of that stringlessness, he could go wherever he wished. 

Unlike Jason, unlike Percy, he didn't belong in a camp, didn't have things like Frank Zhang's praetorship and his half-sister's loyalty to her boyfriend to keep him anchored to anywhere. That was a blessing, but also a curse. He didn't _have_ roots, he was a boat swaying on a river, dangerously nearing both sides of the banks. Never pausing long enough for people to unload more than meaningless crap on him. And there was a lot of meaningless crap. Sometimes he felt more like a child of Hermes, the amount of correspondence he facilitated.

He found himself walking into the shadows...and coming out on Long Island Beach.

It was nighttime, and the water glistened with the pale slip of a moon that granted their surroundings soft silver light. Nico lingered on the sandy beach a while, watching the waves crash silently against the shore.  _What am I doing?_

No attachments, that was something he'd promised himself. No friend, no lover, no family.  _Had_ he ever had a family? Really? The memory is hazy. He remembers B. He remembers growing up a long, long way from here. A long time, too. He remembers the Lotus. He remembers his father, seated on a throne of earthly treasure. Persephone eyeing him disdainfully. He doesn't want to remember. He wants it all to disappear. 

"It's lonely being the alpha wolf of a pack that doesn't exist," he told the lovely silver moon.

"Hand the position over, then."

Nico froze. All the hair rose on his arms, his legs. He was acutely aware of the sudden rush of blood to his head...the frantic thrumming of his heart. That  _voice._ He knew that voice. He turned, and standing not far behind him was a blond teenager with blue eyes that glowed slightly in the darkness. See, a regular mortal's eyes didn't  _glow._ That was some next-level charmer god-child bullshit right there. It wasn't fair. What had Nico gotten from his father, besides a bad temper and destructive coping mechanisms? He squinted at the shape of the older boy, trying to remember his name.

"...Solace?"

"Will's fine." Will Solace was dressed in the regular orange camp shirt, bead necklace on his neck, resting in a delightful little hollow between his two collarbones. There was a small dip in his grin. "What are you doing out here, man?"

"Nothing. I'm leaving soon." Nico turned his face away and stared at the waves again. How they broke on the shore. "Don't you have curfew? I mean...it's late, isn't it?"

"Wait. Don't tell me. You've been shadow-travelling again." Will studied him, and Nico didn't dislike the way that pair of keen blue eyes searched him. He was mildly discomfited, though. Just mildly. Not too much. Probably less than he should've been. _Oh, shit._ "And to answer your question, yes, but I was appointed to clean up. We had a party out here last night, Chiron's favourite actor's birthday or something."

Nico smiled despite himself. "Adam Sandler."

"That's him," Will said. "Hopeless. Next month it'll be some Broadway singer, who knows." He kicked some sand at his feet, and Nico suddenly realised the beach was covered with footprints. Damn. He was usually so observant, too. "And hey. When I asked you what you were doing here, I didn't mean _oh, you should leave."_  

"What?"

"Maybe, you know, some people were expecting you."

Nico waved it off. "I'll send Chiron an Iris message or something. If you mean Percy, I don't care."

"Kind of meant Annabeth," Will said, smiling. "But okay."

"Oh."

There was a pause. And then Will rolled his eyes, but he looked embarrassed. Nico was very confused. He would, however, admit that Will rolling his eyes was way more attractive than it should've been, which. Again. Shit.

"What?"

 _"Gods_ , you're so dense."

"I...I don't understand."

"I'm saying you should stay, stupid." Will folded his arms, grinning. "Or would you rather talk to more ghosts? Did you get me a souvenir from China?"

"You know I've been speaking to ghosts." Nico swallowed. Will glanced up at the sky -- almost in exasperation -- and then flicked on his flashlight. Where the Hades had that come from? Were Apollo kids magically able to produce light sources from thin air? The beach was still dark, but within their circle of light everything was remarkably clear, and Nico could see every freckle on Will's sun-kissed skin. There were a lot. It took him a while to remember that he was still talking. "-- and that I accidentally ran into China again."

"I know you've been overworking yourself," Will said. He glared at Nico like he'd been personally offended. "And as for the China part, you always accidentally transport yourself to China when you're tired. You mentioned it before you zonked out last time. You kind of look like death right now, no offence, let me..." Nico flinched when Will took his arm. His fingers curled, but he didn't move them to where his sword was sheathed. He just let Will take his pulse. Will's hand was warm, as warm as the sun...perhaps another birthright. Lucky. 

"At least your pulse is nice and steady." Will pulled away, looking a little less angry at how horribly Nico had been taking care of himself. Still angry, though. Nico didn't understand why, but then again, Will Solace was forever snapping at people to wrap up injuries, disinfect wounds and eat more fruit. He was the surrogate mother to everybody without one in camp...and sometimes even to those with mums, and the snapping came with the territory. That, and nagging. Nagging was all he seemed to do to Nico, other than invade his personal space. 

Nico's cheeks were hot. He stood, silent, in the moonlight, wondering if he should whip out his sword, run, or do both. He decided against it, because no matter how bad Will Solace was close-combat, he was a goddamn ace when it came to outrunning someone. 

He must've said that last part out loud, because Will let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, I'm no good with the weapons you big-shots carry around. Give me a sword, and it's like giving Frank Zhang a violin. We'd both end up breaking them." Nico bristled at the mention of Frank. He hadn't quite warmed up to the guy, yet, but Hazel liked him. Hazel knew what she was doing. More importantly, probably, was Will's voice: not angry, or agitated, but resigned. Somehow that was worse.

 _"Aliquis in omnibus est nullus in singulis,"_ Nico said, without thinking. Will raised an eyebrow. He flushed deeper. "It means...uh, someone who is good in everything is probably bad at one of those things. That Jack of all trades saying. And, um, you're a pretty good healer and archer." What was he  _saying?_  "It's kind of good that you aren't the fighter type. Or exactly like your dad. At least you didn't get his haiku obsession." He hadn't said this much in Camp Half-Blood to five people, much less one all at once. And for good reason: his tongue felt like cotton, now, clammy with anxiety. Will's face had a strange expression on it. Nico turned to go.

"Hey," Will said. "Wait. Is the son of Hades trying to _cheer me up_ with one of his fancy Latin phrases?"

"I'm not trying to..." Nico began, then stopped. And the warmth spread to his ears, and they started tingling, and he was really screwed. Will grinned, and suddenly he was right beside Nico, throwing an arm around him. It took all of Nico's willpower to not push him away or shove a sword in his face. His shoulders felt very, very tense. And then he caught a whiff of Will's soap, the light cologne wafting from his neck, and it was like a tranquiliser hit him or something. He slumped, and Will's body was very, very warm to his back. "I kind of. Have to go soon." It was half-hearted.

"Yeah?" Will sounded disbelieving. "Stay a bit. The harpies won't bother us, I'm out on a pass."

"Sounds lovely," Nico mumbled. Will smelled  _really_ nice.

"Hey, let's sit over here." Will pulled them over to a bunch of logs around a dead fire. Nico tried not to collapse on the spot when he parked his butt down.  _God,_ he was tired. Will looked at him, all worried, and he felt guilty. That wasn't right. That was kind of fucked up. "When's the last time you slept, damn it." There was a hand pressing at his face. Normally he'd have bitten it off. Instead he resisted the urge to turn his face  _into_ it, like some lovesick dumbass. Will pulled away. His eyes seemed too tender, too...well. Nico was blushing again. He prayed the darkness would hide it.

"I'm okay."

"Yeah, you were before you took a hike for China."

"I didn't leave for the sake of leaving," Nico protested. Will frowned. 

"Explain."

"I...I got an Iris message from a ghost." Nico tried to watch Will's face for shifts, but it was too dark to be sure. "He told me there was something...he said something was waiting for me south. I shadow-travelled to be efficient. Passed out for a week and then got to looking." 

"You listened to a ghost?"

"I knew him." Nico could scarcely believe he was telling so many truths to one person at once. His lying streak was broken just by Will's inquiring tone, the weight of the arm still around him. "I mean. When he was alive. He took care of me and B -- me when I got out of the Lotus Hotel. And then he got killed by a Cyclops. Some god's revenge thing. His spirit was cursed to wander the earth forever." He paused for a while. The past was painful. Of course, it reminded him of Bianca. Of _Percy._ "There was nothing but a mound of earth, like something had been buried. I summoned some...skeletal warriors to dig, and they found a bracelet." It looked like an ordinary piece of jewellery. Braided, a green gem at the core. Nico wasn't sure what it was. It was in his pocket now, a thing of unknown origin.

Will pulled away. He was looking at him strangely. "A bracelet?"

Nico took it out. In the dim light, the gem gleamed most unnervingly. His palms began to sweat. The glow was something like Rachel's eyes when she prophesied. Prophesied? Gave prophecies, whatever. It couldn't be good.

"Nico, this is..."

"You know what it is?"

Nico turned it about in his hand. The glow was bathing his fingers in an eery green light.

"It -- well, it has the same energy as the scarf," Will admitted. "Percy and Annabeth once went on a quest, and they brought back some scarf of Aphrodite's." The memory made him smile. "It kind of...you know, enchanted and shit. Aphrodite. Bad stuff. After looking at it, Travis asked Katie out." 

"You're kidding."

"She turned him down, _duh."_   Will grinned. "The point is, it's enchanted. Not Aphrodite, though. At least I don't think. The aura's different. It's kind of like...my dad. He's the god of prophecies, you know." Nico resisted the urge to add, _'and medicine, and horrible poetry, and shitty music...'_ "I think Rachel would know. Maybe we should ask her." Will gently took the bracelet. For a moment, his eyes filled with green. He looked stunned. Nico was about to break out into a stress-induced panic when the green gave way to sky blue once again. Will inhaled, sharply, and then a goofy grin broke out on his face. "Whoa, that's far out."

"What?"

"Nothing." The stupid grin was still there. "Do you, uh. You know. Do you want to come back to camp."

"Are you high?" Nico was seriously concerned. Will blinked, twice, and then seemed to return to himself. "You're being even more of an idiot than usual, Solace, and that's saying a lot."

"Rude." It was contemplative. "I think we should, well...contain this bracelet."

"Why?"

"Because it's enchanted."

"It did nothing to me!"

"Yeah, and that's such a big indicator of how bad something is. You've passed out several times in a day and thought it was normal." Will pocketed the bracelet, and Nico felt like fighting about that, but he didn't. The appreciative, kind of surprised look he got was worth it. "I think the ghost was trying to tell you something."

Nico rolled his eyes. "It was. It told me to go south."

"I mean. With the bracelet." Will was hedging. Nico  _hated_ people who hedged. He wanted straight answers, and fast. How insufferable could this guy  _get?_ It was a miracle he was so pretty. He probably should stop thinking things like that. "It kind of...well. It's like a homing beacon. Takes you where you need to go. Or makes you do what you want to do. Have you -- have you been doing that kind of stuff, lately?"

"I --"

"I was praying to my dad, recently." The voice was soft, kind of subdued. "I told him to help me out with something.  _Please, Dad, I think I've got a crush._ He said -- well, he said,  _I'll see what I can do."_ Will's voice was shaking harder than his hands had been the first time he and Nico had  _really_ talked. Met. Whatever. You got the gist. Abomination baby delivery. Bleating and giggling so thunder-claps shook the building. Nico felt faint. "I think he might've -- what I'm trying to say is --"

"Will Solace," Nico said, slowly, "are you saying you asked your dad to bring me back to camp?"

There was silence for a moment. Nico felt strangely calm for someone who was freaking out on the inside. His heart was pounding at hundred a minute.

"Ye-es," Will said, just as slow.

"And he did it, by giving me a bracelet --"

"That would bring you home."

"That would bring me here," Nico corrected. That made Will look kind of crestfallen. Like a kicked puppy. Nico hated himself for it immediately. "I mean. I don't  _have_ a home, Solace." He was still furiously blushing. Will licked his lips, lowering his eyes to his hands. It would've been cute if it hadn't all been so goddamn confusing. "And this sure as Hades isn't it." Why, though? Because Percy was here? Because Percy was  _happy_ here? Percy didn't mean anything to him anymore. And if that were true...

"Why not?" Will folded his arms again, lower lip stuck out. He looked like a child. He sounded like a lecturer. Nico wanted to kiss him. It was a scary thought.

"I -- Idon'thavetheanswerrightnowbutIthinkI'dliketokissyou," he said, a little breathless.

Will blinked.

"Oh."

"Yeah," Nico said, ears burning. "Sorry, I --"

"No. I mean,  _oh._ I've been wanting to do that since -- since I met you after the delivery."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Another moment of silence, and then they're launching themselves at each other. Teeth clash. Lips. Will smells really good. Nico makes a strangled noise and he thinks he might be dying. His knees give out, and he nearly blacks out, and then Will's pulling away all concerned-like and Nico's still trying to chase the taste of his mouth and Will is laughing, then Will is holding him and petting his face and soothing and Nico's slipping away, Nico's trying really hard not to but he's so, so tired and Will smells like home and everything is just so large and so foreign except for Will right now.

He sleeps.

 

* * *

 

 

Will drew back the white sheets to his patient's bed, and got hit right in the gut with disappointment.

It was empty, rumpled, not even made. The only concrete sign _Nico_ instead of some random straggler had been here last night was the tingling of Will's mouth. The weight in his arms, the steady pulse under his fingers. A secret. The corners of Will's lips twisted up, bitter. He tucked his hair behind his ear and turned to leave. A rustle, the clearing of a throat stopped him.

Will turned back and saw Nico di Angelo in the middle of the room, his face pink with embarrassment.

"...hey."

 _"Hey?"_ Will sounded incredulous. He folded his arms. It was so easy to feign anger like this, and Nico treated it with such bafflement it was endearing. "You do not _'hey'_ me, Mr di Angelo. What, can't fold a bed properly? Need someone to tuck you in, and won't even kiss him properly after that?"

"I...I didn't _need_ you to tuck me in!" Nico's ears were bright red, and they were adorable. Laughing, Will sidestepped slowly, and lifted a hand to cup the side of his face. It was cold, so cold, but so compelling. 

"Yeah, you kinda did. Passed out on me there. Am I not good enough a kisser for you?"

"Gods, just shut up," Nico grumbled, though he was still pink when he stepped up and sprung one on Will. Just like that. Brief, soft, sweet. Will was still reeling from it minutes after, when he realised the horrified look on Nico's face wasn't because he was an atrocious kisser with bad breath but because of the audience they'd somehow amassed, unknowingly. Chiron was standing at the door with Percy, who looked like Clarisse had taken Maimer to his face. They both had expressions varying from interested to mildly perturbed. Will exhaled a rattling sigh and stepped forwards.

"So, uh, what can I do about..."

"I think I'll call another healer," Percy said, hurriedly, and rushed off.

"Well, that was certainly not something you see every day." Chiron's tone was neutral, but his eyes glittered. He lifted his lips into a tired smile. "I suppose I'll have to extend that cabin rule, then. About time, anyways." Nico snorted. "Well, I'll leave you boys to finish your business. I should go lecture Clarisse on how it is most indecent to...try to gut someone with an electric spear." With another unreadable look at both of them, he walked away, hooves clopping on the ground. Will turned back to Nico, smiling. He was kind of embarrassed, but gods if it hadn't been so, so worth it.

"So Chiron's cool with it."

"It," Nico echoed.

"Us."

"Us."

"As much as I appreciate my own parrot, you really don't have anything else to say?"

"I'm staying," Nico blurted. And then flushed again. "For now, at least. Until duty calls --"

"Oh."

"Oh is right."

"You should probably talk to Percy."

"I will," he said, dryly. "You should probably talk to...Chiron."

"I don't know, he likes you better. Big Three Kid and all." Will grinned. Nico groaned, but it wasn't irritated or agitated, just...maybe if you listened closely, just a little bit fond.  Which was, you know. Fantastic. Will had to make five offerings at dinner tonight. He smiled at the thought. "I like the thought of you staying."

"I probably shouldn't clog up your ward," Nico said.

"It's fine, you know."

"I'm gonna go talk to, um. Percy. I think."

Will caught him before he could leave. "Anything else to say, hotshot?" The blush that spread over Nico's face again was beatific. Will could look at it forever. He wanted to immortalise this moment in a snow globe, something he could look at whenever things got bad. Nico shook his head, mute, which was a little disappointing. A work in progress. Will was turning back to his work when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"I came back for you, you know," Nico whispered. "Not Percy."

And that? That was enough.

 


End file.
